AGREEMENT PERMITTED EITHER SIDE TO TAKE DISPUTE TO THAT FORUM
After a case was filed with the New York Count Supreme Court, the defendant moved to compel arbitration. And when that request was granted, an appeal ensued.
On its review, the Appellate Division, First Department, noted that the parties’ loan agreement had a provision which provided that at the request of either side, "any [c]laim shall be resolved by binding arbitration.” While the agreement further permitted other “self-help” remedies, like a judicial foreclosure, the language was clear that the exercise of such a remedy did not constitute a waiver of the right to seek arbitration.
And even though it participated in the litigation – filed an answer, served discovery requests and interrogatories – given that the case had been pending for “less than four months,” the AD1 didn’t think that precluded the defendant’s right to seek arbitration.
Was there no arbitrating that?
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DECISION